Air conditioning structure



United States Patent Ofiice 3,059,447 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 3,059,447 AIR CONDITIONING STRUCTURE Richard L. Brugler, Trotwood, Ohio, assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware 1 Filed Dec. 31, 1959, Ser. No. 863,262 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-183) This invention relates to an air conditioning unit adapted to be used as a combination room cooler and room heater and specifically concerns a clutch mechanism for disconnecting the condenser fan having a slinger ring thereon, from the motor which drives both the condenser fan and the evaporator fan. This disconnection is made when the unit is used as a heater and the temperature of the outside air becomes low enough to freeze the water in the condensate sump to thereby lock the slinger ring and condenser fan against movement. The evaporator fan is used to move the air within the unit when the unit is used as a heater.

In air conditioning units provided with condensate sumps the slinger ring which is normally connected to the condenser fan may become frozen into the ice formed in the condensate sump during the winter. The water in the condensate sump may come from several sources including unevaporated condensate, and rain or snow blown into the sump through the condenser coil or exterior grille openings. In units wherein a heater portion is provided for winter heating it has often been necessary to provide separate motors for driving the evaporator fan and the condenser fan so that freezing in of the condenser fan would not cause burning out of a motor employed to drive both fans.

A principal object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a clutch mechanism for an air conditioning unit having a single drive motor for both the condenser fan or blower and the evaporator fan or blower and adapted to disconnect the condenser fan from the drive motor by means of any of several devices such as manually operable dog clutch means, thermostatically controlled magnetic clutch means, and manually operable electrical switch operated magnetic clutch means.

Another object is to provide an air conditioning unit having a heater element therein for winter heating, single drive unit for the condenser fan and the heating unit fan, and clutch means for disconnecting the condensate fan from the drive motor when the heater fan is in operation to thereby minimize power consumption and condenser fan noise.

A further object is to reduce cost and size of an air conditioning unit by providing it with a single drive mechanism for the condenser fan and the heater fan and a clutch mechanism for disconnecting the condenser fan when desired.

A further object is to provide a combination room cooler and heater air conditioning unit with a novel bafiie means for regulating the air flow through said heater unit.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 represents a partial cross-sectional view of the air conditioning unit embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 represents a variation of the clutch means therefor;

FIGURE 3 represents a diagrammatic view of the thermostatic electrical switch adapted for use in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 represents a variation of the unit of FIG- URE 1 showing a baffle structure.

Referring to FIGURE 1, an air conditioning or combination room heating and cooling unit is provided with a housing 12 divided into an evaporator section 14 and a condenser section 16. The condenser section 16 comprises a condenser coil 18 for cooling the compressed refrigerant gas, such as Freon, and a condenser fan 20 for blowing cool air over the coil 18. A slinger ring 19 is secured to the outer edges of the fan blades. A condensate sump 22 is formed in the bottom of housing 12 to receive condensate from the evaporator coil 24 of the evaporator section 14 by means of a trough or hose (not shown) running along the bottom of the housing 12 and emptying into the sump 22. The Freon circuit for the unit shown may be a conventional one comprising a closed circuit of the following elements arranged in series: gas compressor, condenser coil, capillary tube, and evaporator coil.

Section 14 is separated from section 16 by a wall 26 upon which is mounted a motor 28 having a driven shaft 30 upon which is mounted the evaporator fan 32. The condenser fan 20 has a shaft 34 mounted for rotation in a bearing 36 and carrying at its outer end a friction clutch plate 38 adapted to engage a friction clutch plate 40 secured to a shaft 42 splined at 44 and mating with splines in the bore 46 of the shaft 30 to be rotated thereby. The operation of this clutch mechanism is explained below.

A heater unit 48 may be positioned adjacent the evaporator coil 24 and may be in the form of an electrical resistance screen extending over a considerable portion of the cross section of housing 12, and heated from a source' of power 50 when electrical switch 52 is actuated by knob 54 to a position connecting contacts 56 and 58 to send current through the heating unit. As contacts 56 and 58 are connected through the action of switch 52 power is supplied to the motor 28 and fans 20 and 32 are rotated. Motor 28 is shown diagrammatically and may he of any conventional DC. or AC. construction.

Should the temperature in housing portion 16 be sulfficiently low to freeze water 21 in sump 22, a bi-metal electrical switch 60 shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 as comprising a bi-metal arm 62 having contact 64 connected to power line 65 and a contact 66 connected to solenoid lead 67, will be closed and power will be supplied to a solenoid 68 which will pull clutch member 40 to the left to disengage it from clutch member 38 against the action of a spring 70.

Should it be desired to disconnect fan 20 whenever the heater is used, the switch may be conveniently shorted out by the addition of a line 72. Such electrical circuit variations can obviously be utilized to provide a large variety of circuits for the operation of the clutch device.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the condenser fan 20 may be conveniently driven by a dog type of clutch 68 splined to the driven shaft 30 and operable by lever 70 pivotally mounted at 72 and operable by a Bowden cable 74 or other manually operable actuating means.

Referring to FIGURE 4, the variation of the heating unit for winter use as shown may consist of a hot water coil 76 of any size depending upon the amount of heat required and may conveniently take up approximately half of the front of the room cooler as shown. A baflle 78 pivotally mounted at 80 to the cooler housing 12 is movable to a plurality of up positions represented by 82 to guide the air ilow from the evaporator fan 32 through the hot water coil when it is desired to heat. This bafiie also is movable to a plurality of down positions 86 to open the top half 84 of the room cooler front opening to allow the passage of cool air therethrough as desired. It is noted that a means may be conveniently provided to shut off the flow of hot water to the coil 76 in the summertime.

I claim:

n an ai sqndi n u i h vin a h a @m a element in fluid flow communication with a space to be conditioned and a heat dissipating element in fluid flow communication with the atmosphere outside the space to be conditioned, a first air impelling means .for inducing movement of air over the above mentioned heat exchange element, a second air impelling means for inducing movement of air over the above mentioned heat dissipating element, a single motor operatively connected to each of said air impelling means and operable to drive said air impelling means in unison, a clutch mechanism having engaged and disengaged operative positions and interposed in the operative connection between said motor and said second air impellinglmeans, said clutch mechanism being operable to transmit drive from said motor to said second air impelling means when in its engaged position and being inoperative to transmit drive from said motor to said second 'air impelling means when in its disengaged position, and temperature responsive means operatively connected to said clutch mechanism and operable to selectively condition said clutch mechanism in its engaged position and in its disengaged position.

2. In an air conditioning unit having a heat exchange element in fluid flow communication with a space to be conditioned and a heat dissipating element in fluid flow communication with the atmosphere outside the space to be conditioned, a first air impelling means for inducing movement of air over the above mentioned heat exchange element, a second air impelling means 'for inducing movement of air over the above mentioned heat dissipating element, means forming a sump for collecting condensate water from said heat exchange element, at least a p ortion thereof positioned beneath said second air impelling means, said second air impelling means being provided with slinger means operable to contact water in said sump and expelit from said unit, a motor operatively connected to said second air impelling means, a clutchmechanism having engaged and disengaged operative positions and interposed in the operative connection between said motor and said second air impelling'means, said clutch mechanism being operable to transmit drive from said motor to said second air impelling means when in its engaged position and being inoperative to transmit drive from said motor to said second air impelling means when in its disengaged position, and temperature responsive means operatively connected to said clutch mechanism and operable to selectively condition said clutch mechanism in its engaged position and in its disengaged position. i

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

